We are animal professionals with over 40 years of experience in veterinary medicine, education, dog training and shelter work.

We created PupQuest with one goal in mind: To inform and empower consumers. We have nothing to sell, nothing to lose, and a lot to say.As a veterinarian I have served on the board of directors of open and limited admission shelters. During my long career, I have been a humane educator for a large SPCA, worked as a certified veterinary technician, chaired the education committee of a shelter and created one of the first in-house shelter spay/neuter programs in the country. In veterinary school I was one of 12 students who created an alternative to terminal surgery dog labs.

My passion for education brought me to teaching at a large university. That is where I met a bright, creative student who was also interested in the PupQuest idea. Together we made it a reality.

The student now has a degree in Animal Behavior and many years of experience working in animal shelters and doggie day care/boarding kennels. Her honors thesis was based on behavioral research she conducted at a large municipal animal control shelter. Her recent experiences and fresh look at this topic have been invaluable.Every week, we meet well-intentioned people who bought puppies for hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars from pet shops, online, or from disreputable breeders. Many also adopted from shelters and rescues shipping animals in from all over the country and beyond. An alarming number of these puppies are not appropriate pets: they are unhealthy or their personalities are not safe for your average dog owner. Owners often don't make the connection between the dogs' problems and the source of the puppy.

For years animal advocates have been trying to convince people not to buy from pet shops and disreputable breeders. Recently, the Internet has created a new avenue for unsavory breeders to directly reach unsuspecting consumers. Hundreds of thousands of puppies are purchased sight-unseen online every year.To be honest and unapologetic in our efforts to educate puppy-seekers.
While we strongly believe adoption is still the best option we understand that many people want purebred pups or designer dogs (cough….. expensive mutts!) By guiding those who choose to buy, we have the best chance of helping the greatest number of dogs and people. We've chosen the Internet as our vehicle because that's where consumers are shopping for puppies.

Contact Us
So, that’s who we are! Please communicate with us on our PupQuest blog. Tell us your stories, share your insight. Animal people don’t always agree but we will have a lively discussion!

PupQuest is an educational website. We cannot provide advice about specific cases or recommend specific breeders or shelters, but the information you need to make wise choices is available on this site.